never reached such heights again, but he was awarded his county cap in his first season and the following year, 1966, with just one fewer dismissal, he was the leading wicketkeeper in the English season. The record in his first two Somerset seasons made his departure at the end of his third surprising. Wisden noted: "The wicketkeeping of Clayton, although he was never dropped from the side, deteriorated sufficiently to decide the Executive not to offer him a further contract." In fact, with 74 dismissals, he was third in the fielding statistics lists for the season. And he retained his place in the side right through to Somerset's first appearance in a one-day final at Lord's in the 1967 Gillette Cup. There appear to have been other factors: David Foot, the Somerset County Cricket Club historian, wrote of Clayton that "he never quite integrated". In a later co-authored book, Foot wrote: "He rarely courted popularity and certainly antagonised some by the cussed individuality of his personality. He was never one to kowtow; team-mates and observers detected the chip that was reluctant to leave his shoulder. He was in the modern idiom, his own man. Colin Atkinson claimed he was once so annoyed by Clayton's go-slow attitude in a match that he threatened to send him off. In spite of all that, he was as all the players readily acknowledged a fine wicketkeeper." After playing in the final County Championship match of the 1967 season, four days after the Gillette Cup final, Clayton left the Somerset staff and did not appear in first-class cricket again. References 1938 births 2018 deaths English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Somerset cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Combined Services cricketers